More particularly, the invention relates to a luminescence imaging installation comprising a lightproof enclosure containing                a support adapted to receive a sample to be imaged;        a detector adapted to detect a luminescence image from the sample to be imaged, corresponding to a light signal emitted from the inside of the sample; and        a light reflector device for reflecting light towards the detector.        
Document US 2005/237423 describes an example of such an installation. In that example, in order to obtain a sufficiently complete representation of the luminescence emission from the small laboratory animal, the animal is caused to turn inside the installation so as to take a plurality of successive images under a plurality of orientations.
If the small laboratory animal is anesthetized while images are being taken, there is indeed no difficulty in taking a plurality of images in different orientations, and in obtaining therefrom a faithful representation of its surface, one that might possibly be suitable for being displayed in three dimensions, since the animal is stationary throughout the duration of the photographic acquisition.
Nevertheless, it is sometimes desirable not to anesthetize small laboratory animals during luminescence imaging, for example if it is desired to image muscular activity, since that can require the small laboratory animal to be in a state of wakefulness.
Furthermore, the device known from the above document presents the drawback that the luminescence signal is detected at distinct instants since the acquisitions of the signal at different angles of incidence take place at successive instants. As a result it is difficult to quantify the detection of the luminescence signal, given that it already varies strongly over time.
A particular object of the invention is to mitigate those drawbacks.